FlipSide

A few minutes with...Adam Tuss

By Aliya Sternstein

Aug 07, 2006

Every week Federal News Radio/WTOP reporter Adam Tuss interrogates Federal Computer Week to get the scoop on government information technology. His Federal News Radio show, “Trends in Technology,” featuring FCW, examines the way modern technology is changing federal agencies. This week we’re trading places and putting him in the hot seat.

So would you consider yourself a techie?

Tuss: I’m not the guy who has a million different gadgets. I have the run of the mill — the iPod, cell phone. I’m on the computer a lot. I e-mail a lot. Yeah, I am a techie, but I probably couldn’t create a Web page for you.

You are listed on the WTOP Web site as a reporter, writer and editor. You’ve got shows on Federal News Radio. How and why do you juggle all those gigs?

Tuss: Reporting is what I came to Washington, D.C., to do. That’s my passion. That’s what I love. The hours are wacky. They change from week to week sometimes. Three days a week, I’m up at 3 a.m. and in by 4 a.m. Other times, I work the standard 9 to 5. I’ve been doing this for five years. You never really get used to those hours, but you cope with them better as time goes by.

It’s not monotonous. That’s one of the things I like at WTOP. Recently I covered a big project at the Wilson Bridge and cleanup at the Capitol after the Fourth of July. Writing is a totally separate exercise. When you write a story for the ear, it’s a lot different from writing for the eye. You have to use words to create a picture for someone driving in a car. We don’t want to sound repetitive, so we have to find ways of telling the story two, three, four different ways. We condense articles that are four or five pages long into several seconds.

Do you ever get tired of talking or hearing your own voice?

Tuss: I don’t know how to say this without sounding narcissistic. No, I don’t ever get tired of hearing myself talk. And often, I let the subject tell the story. It’s not my story. I like to let other people do the talking for me sometimes.

As far as keeping my voice in shape, I try not to scream when I’m at sporting events.